Sings the moon

I haven’t done a cleave poem for a long time and thought I was due for a bit of self-inflicted punishment. I’m adding it to the dverse open link night because these poems are so hard to write, and I’m pleased with the way this one turned out.

If you don’t know what a cleave poem is, it’s a three in one poem. Each side is a separate poem to be read vertically, one side dark, the other light, opposites. But they can be  read horizontally as a single poem too.

Loud the city silence                 sings the moon

Breaking glassy fragments      in a sea of darkness

All about                                      the brittle stars blink and listen

I stop my ears                              to the swell tide’s refrain.

Though scraps of anger            ride on peaceful calm,

White or red                                 sails full of dawning

Grow round and full                  like moons on water

Fruiting in the heat                    lily blossoms, reflections

Of a summer night                     in a still forest pool.

 

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Step by step

The Daily Post prompt is: Sidewalk

Photo ©Tomascastelazo

Step by /step echoes on the flags

Head bent low /rain spits in the wind

So it’s hard to see /how the raised face glistens!

The outstretched hand /and the soft voice pleading

Harden your heart  /for there is hope in a smile

When the rain turns to tears /to give is to care

Walk on by /and the sun comes out.

This is the way, the bright sky calls

This is the way/ the bright sky calls,

To dusty death/ at the end of the path.

The tired push and shove/ to the haven of peace,

With no respite/ we follow our longings,

But the dream recedes/ into a blue haze.

Though I can almost touch it/ this magic we longed for,

Its glitter is veiled/ this place we constructed,

By the unyielding cares/ of our heart and bones,

Of a world full of darkness/ to cradle our ending.

Night sky is black

The Daily Post prompt is: understanding.

A cleave poem, because I haven’t written one in a while.

Night sky is black/ shot with light

A sheet pierced with holes/ a million stars

And a light that shines behind/ showing the way

From another world, I long to go/ to a better place than this

Though the weight in between/ so dark and full of pain

Stirs the air thick with mists/  I can barely see

Wings white and strong will bear me/ across the feather-light sky

And a story guide my way/ to where the spirit is free.

 

The nineth life

Photo ©Broc

The lithe cat springs/  the roof tiles slippery

But the bird has flown/  in the falling rain

Balancing, scrambling/  claws lose their grip

Down from the tree/  cat tumbles, twisting

She pads through the long grass/  as cars flash by

Wary eyes on the traffic /  through a veil of rain

Cat glides through the shadows/  just a tawny streak

No more hunting/  so quickly it’s over

She takes the path homeward/  her bright day has ended

Until the stars call/  and she stalks the night.

Spring day

Another poem for NaPoWriMo’s Earth day prompt

©Wolfgang Bergmann

The earth shifts / the year turns

From dark to light/ grey to green, new leaves uncurling

The stars are fading/ palest blossom on a black bough

Night is slipping/ dark times forgotten

Beneath the dawn line/ dappled still with moonlight

Where day is hatching/ in a flurry of birdsong

Ravelling up the past/ spring flags unfurl

Perpetual motion/ eternal cycle.

The day is dying

The NaPoWriMo theme today is couples, things in pairs or halves. Since this theme fits the cleave poetry form, and I love cleave poems, I don’t need a better excuse to post this one.

If you’re not familiar with this form, a cleave poem is in two halves, each of which can be read as a separate, and preferably totally different poem, but read together they form a third poem.

The day is dying/  the dog fox said

Stars palely glittering/  the moon will be dark

The sun has set /  time for hunting

In dark corners/  fat mice scurrying

Shadows lengthen /  beneath cool branches

The brooding silence breaks/  ghost owl calls

Fear echoing through lonely rooms/  the dog fox answers

A dark voice from ancient times /  Come, the night is waiting.